El Paso group's remote-controlled cars put racing in the palms of their hands

Eddie Martinez makes a few last second tweeks to his nitro powered off road truck Saturdy at Hal's Hobby Racetrack during a night of racing. The vehicles can reach speeds up to 45mph. (Mark Lambie / El Paso Times)

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A nitro powered r/c truck sails over a triple jump at Hal's Hobby Warehouse Racetrack Saturday during a night of racing.

There is a short clay track on the East Side of El Paso with the sound, speed and attitude of real-life stock car racing.

Behind Hal's Hobby Warehouse is Hal's Hobby R/C Raceway -- where big boys play with small toys and are unapologetic about it.

Matter of fact, they embrace it.

"It's good clean honest fun," said Jeseh Rivera, 35, who started racing remote-controlled cars about a year ago. "We are not out the bars or anywhere else we're not supposed to. We are here having a great time. We get to hang out with all these guys all day, share tips and tricks and compete."

The miniature vehicles come in all sorts of shapes, colors and speeds.

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"You can start at $500 and go as high as $2,000," said 54-year-old Hector Muela, who has been racing since 1995. "It all depends on what you want."

Muela races RC Nitro RC buggies and 4x4 show course trucks.

"I came in here about 18 years ago to buy a battery and there was an off-road race going on and it was packed with cars," he said. "Ever since then, there was no turning back. I was hooked."

Muela has traveled across the region as far away as Tucson and Dallas to compete for bragging rights and for the experience of racing on other racetracks.

But he loves Hal's Hobby R/C Raceway, his home track.

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"It's great to talk a bunch of trash to these guys, these clowns," he said loud enough so his fellow competitors could hear. "I don't care if I win or lose, just as long as my trash talking is better than theirs."

The Saturday night air fills with laughter as the drivers and their pit crews -- usually their sons and daughters -- prepared for the summer series racing.

"The best thing about racing out here is you never know what's going to happen," Muela said. "You can race a car all year and it never breaks down then all of a sudden a drive shaft will come out and a kid will beat you. But it's all in good fun."

The clay track is 12,600 square feet, with more than a dozen jumps and a 180-foot straightaway. It was built by pro driver Casey Peck from the Team LOSI Racing Team.

"We are very well known in the racing world," said Charles Priemer, manager of the track. "We've had all the top racers in the world race on it before."

Priemer said Hal's Hobby Warehouse could get a novice driver started for about $180.

"We can show them how to prepare for their first race and walk them through it so they aren't scared to do it on their own," he said. "Once they start racing here, it becomes a big family. Most of my friends are because of racing. We have doctors, lawyers, businessmen, every walk of life."

Curt Barnett, son of driver Sherman Barnett, raced the real things at El Paso Speedway Park. He has been R/C racing for about four years.

"I've been involved in racing in El Paso for 20 years, so this is what I know best," he said. "I've driven different kinds of race cars all my life. This is something I can teach my son."

His 10-year-old son Tyler Barnett is getting pretty darned good at it.

"He's starting to go really fast," Barnett said. "He ran with the novices a few weeks ago and he won, so he had to move up and started running with all the big guys. It's something I can identify with and I can really teach him because of my involvement all my life with my father."

Tyler, 10, who also races motocross, four-wheelers and quarter midgets, has been doing R/C racing since he was 6.

"It's a lot more fun actually being out there and racing for real, but I like coming out here and spending time with my dad," said Tyler, whose favorite racer is Kyle Bush. "This is just like racing, it's really cool. It's fun, too."

What Barnett likes about racing at Hal's is the way race series is broken into different classes, which makes it fun for children and adults who are just beginning.

"What's cool about it, is anybody can do this," he said. "For $300 you can come out and you can race. Whereas if you wanted to do an off-road race for real, you would have to spend $250,000 just to get started. If you like racing and you get excited about what you see on TV, but you don't want to go buy a full-sized race car you can come out here for a few hundred dollars and you are racing, you are competing."

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